Gone
by Poet Screaming
Summary: ---Her beautiful glass-beaded slippers looked like they were covered in rubies, for all the blood.--- Booksical


**_A/N- It's a bit dark, yes... Please leave me some reviews?_**

"Will that be all, Ma'am?"

"Boq, I told you to call me Nessa."

"I know…Ma'am."

Nessa sighed. She and Boq had been through this same argument before. She knew he'd never really cared for her…that it was all a ploy for that bitch Glinda's attention, but she still couldn't seem to let it go. He was free to leave anytime he pleased, she had told him, but the restrictions she'd put on the Munchkins outside made even a life of servitude seem more desirable. She hadn't done that on purpose, but if it kept him around, she wasn't going to change it. After her abandonment by her sister, Nessa found herself too bitter to change much of anything.

"That will be all, Boq. You're free to go." Boq snorted his derision and made a show of stomping from the room. He knew it annoyed her.

Nessa wheeled herself to the window and sat looking out over Colwen Grounds. The sun was hanging low, the western sky turning orange and purple as it sank below the horizon. The mists began to rise from the ground in the cold November air, hanging on the naked trees like a death shroud. It was beautiful, in a depressing sort of way. She seemed to be preoccupied with death these days. Since her father died, and with her sister suspected dead as well, she found herself thinking of little else. Maybe the time had come for her to follow them to the Unnamed God's bosom.

She noticed the knife lying on the table beside her and picked it up, noting her reflection in the shiny blade. She was only twenty-eight, but she looked aged well beyond her years. The bags under her eyes and the frown lines in her forehead were a testament to her unhappiness. Her skin was still unblemished, and as she pulled her sleeves up to her elbows, she noticed the delicate veins beneath the perfect alabaster skin. She cocked her head to the side, as if seeing something puzzling, and then pressed the sharp point of the knife into her wrist. A small crimson droplet of blood welled up, then fell, splashing onto her beaded slippers. The slippers, a gift from her father, spelled by Glinda in an attempt to gain her favor by helping her to walk, glittered softly in the dying sunlight. She pressed harder on the knife point, and more blood began to fall, slowly at first, then flowing, then gushing as she raked the knife downward. Her slippers became coated in it. The floor beneath her chair was slick with it.

Nessarose watched herself bleed out with the numb fascination of the suicidally resigned.

Slowly, the cold crept in. The edges of her vision became fuzzy, and colors began to fade. A small smile turned the corner of her mouth up as she dreamed she saw Elphaba walking into the room.

"Elphie…have you come to take me home?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Elphaba flew over the manor walls without incident. The guards were never advised to regard visitors by broomstick, so she didn't bother to worry about them. She knew her visit would be a surprise, but she couldn't risk sending word ahead, lest she put her sister at risk by being discovered by the Wizard's forces. She landed on the balcony and spent a few moments arranging herself. For one who was used to getting strange looks, she didn't want them to be from something she actually had control over. After she had smoothed down her dress and tied a few stray hairs back into her braid, she took a deep breath and pulled open the French doors.

The sight that greeted her was not what she expected.

Nessarose was sitting by the window; her head tilted over the back of her chair, arms dangling beside her, blood splattered everywhere. Her beautiful glass-beaded slippers looked like they were covered in rubies, for all the blood. Elphaba felt bile rising up in her throat, and covered her mouth to keep it down as she rushed to her sister's side.

Her sister smiled faintly up at her.

"Elphie…have you come to take me home?"

Elphaba tore strips from the bedding to tie around the gushing wounds, and pulled her sister into her lap. She stroked her face gently, holding her to her chest. A tear fell from Nessa's eye as she realized it wasn't a dream.

"Oh, Nessa…Nessa…it'll be all right, you'll see…I'll get you a doctor, honey, and we'll fix you right up. Oh, Oz, Nessa, I'm so sorry I left you! I wish I could take it all back!"

Nessa reached up weakly and pulled Elphaba down into a kiss.

"Elphie…you were always the better, the brighter. You should have been the Eminent Thropp, not me. Just look at the mess I made…but look at you, you could do everything I couldn't. Don't stop…whatever you left me for, don't stop now. I forgive you, and I love you, Elphie."

And with those words, the light went out in her eyes, and Nessarose went slack.

Elphaba threw her head back and screamed. She kept on screaming until Boq rushed into the room. He took in the sight of the Wicked Witch of the West, covered in blood, holding her sister to her chest and wailing seemingly without end. He saw the blood-soaked bandages on Nessa's wrists, and the knife lying beside her chair. And although he knew this meant he was finally free, he couldn't help feeling a profound sadness, watching Elphaba break down. He walked over and put his arms around the broken woman, rocking back and forth with her as she rocked her dead sister.

"This is all my fault, Boq. If I hadn't been so hell-bent on getting away from Madame Morrible, and getting back at the Wizard, I never would have left her like I did. She never would have become what she was. "

Boq looked guiltily at Nessa's tragically beautiful face. It was true he hadn't loved her, but he never truly wanted to cause her any harm.

"Elphaba, she's gone. There's nothing more you can do. "

A loud banging on the door startled them both.

"Your Eminence, we heard screaming. Is everything all right?"

Boq looked at Elphaba. She suddenly looked very frightened, like a little girl who was about to get in big trouble. He thought about the warrants put out by the Gale Force for her capture, and about all the wicked rumors about whom she had become. But Boq knew differently. He had played with her as a toddler, had gone to University with her and helped her in her clandestine efforts to help Doctor Dillamond with his profound discoveries that never went very far because he'd been murdered. He had seen her as Elphaba, not the Wicked Witch, and now, he could see her breaking inside.

"Elphaba, give her to me, and leave. You have time to make it out before this place is crawling with people. As far as I'm concerned, you were never here. If anyone falls for this, it will be me. Just remember me fondly, should you choose to think on me at all. Now, go!" He gently took Nessa's lifeless body from Elphaba's arms, and kissed the green woman on the cheek before she ran to the balcony. She turned and gave him one last look before her broomstick carried her away on the back of the wind.

The door crashed in, and as people swarmed around him, Boq stared out the window, watching the sky for any signs that Elphaba might still be there.

But, just as before, she was gone without a trace.


End file.
